Health in Society
Book: The New Public Health (Fran Baum)
Part 1: approaches to public health
This part provides context and history for understanding the new public health.
Chapter 1. Understanding health: definitions and perspectives
What is health?
→ health is viewed as a complex outcome, that results from a range of genetic,
environment, socially, political and economic factors.
Health can be defined in different ways and it structure the way in which everybody
views the world and how decisions are being made (policy). Health is seen as part of
modern society (preoccupation). In modern Western society, there is a cultural
important attached to health; not being healthy is seen as undesirable, which influences
the way people experience health and well-being.
5 main perspectives on health:
Health: the clockwork model of medicine (based on biomedical perspective)
Health is the body operating efficiently like a machine. The body is seen as components
parts and illness is the breakdown of the body system. Critic exist of ignoring the social,
psychological and spiritual aspects. When the body is not diseased then is must be
healthy. Health is seen as a mind/body dichotomy without recognising the mental health
from a person that influences the physical health. Also, the biomedical model has been
critiqued for extending the definition of disease (disease mongering and new markets for
pharmaceutical companies). Risk factors are also defined as a disease (obesity).
Health as the absence of illness
Biomedicine distinguish between disease and illness. Illness is the individual experience,
which is culturally specific. Disease is objective, with a set of signs, symptoms and
medically abnormalities. Besides this biomedical view, there are different views on
health. There is a tradition of social medicine (social and economic factors that affect
health). Behavioural psychology looks at protecting and maintaining the body by
appropriate lifestyle behaviours (to minimise the risk of disease). Building on the work of
Foucault, there are critics that demonstrate that the medical definitions of health reflects
its culture. Examples of this include: women having hysteria (which was a medical
diagnosis for women) and homosexuality as a mental disorder (HIV).
The absence of disease may be part of health, but health is more than the absence of
disease.
Health and wellbeing
The World Health Organization (WHO) defined health as ´the complete state of physical,
mental and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity´. This
provides a definitions of health beyond the biomedical model. Now there is a focus on
mental health, which makes the definitions go beyond the physical factors. Mental health
is then about social, emotional and spiritual well-being.
Measuring health
Bowling has reviewed the range of measures that have been developed to view health in
relation to quality of life, with six categories: measures of functional ability, broader
Book: The New Public Health (Fran Baum)
Part 1: approaches to public health
This part provides context and history for understanding the new public health.
Chapter 1. Understanding health: definitions and perspectives
What is health?
→ health is viewed as a complex outcome, that results from a range of genetic,
environment, socially, political and economic factors.
Health can be defined in different ways and it structure the way in which everybody
views the world and how decisions are being made (policy). Health is seen as part of
modern society (preoccupation). In modern Western society, there is a cultural
important attached to health; not being healthy is seen as undesirable, which influences
the way people experience health and well-being.
5 main perspectives on health:
Health: the clockwork model of medicine (based on biomedical perspective)
Health is the body operating efficiently like a machine. The body is seen as components
parts and illness is the breakdown of the body system. Critic exist of ignoring the social,
psychological and spiritual aspects. When the body is not diseased then is must be
healthy. Health is seen as a mind/body dichotomy without recognising the mental health
from a person that influences the physical health. Also, the biomedical model has been
critiqued for extending the definition of disease (disease mongering and new markets for
pharmaceutical companies). Risk factors are also defined as a disease (obesity).
Health as the absence of illness
Biomedicine distinguish between disease and illness. Illness is the individual experience,
which is culturally specific. Disease is objective, with a set of signs, symptoms and
medically abnormalities. Besides this biomedical view, there are different views on
health. There is a tradition of social medicine (social and economic factors that affect
health). Behavioural psychology looks at protecting and maintaining the body by
appropriate lifestyle behaviours (to minimise the risk of disease). Building on the work of
Foucault, there are critics that demonstrate that the medical definitions of health reflects
its culture. Examples of this include: women having hysteria (which was a medical
diagnosis for women) and homosexuality as a mental disorder (HIV).
The absence of disease may be part of health, but health is more than the absence of
disease.
Health and wellbeing
The World Health Organization (WHO) defined health as ´the complete state of physical,
mental and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity´. This
provides a definitions of health beyond the biomedical model. Now there is a focus on
mental health, which makes the definitions go beyond the physical factors. Mental health
is then about social, emotional and spiritual well-being.
Measuring health
Bowling has reviewed the range of measures that have been developed to view health in
relation to quality of life, with six categories: measures of functional ability, broader
